I misread the recipe, oh— each time I read it. During my first attempt, I didn’t whip the egg whites enough before adding the honey; it was a soupy mess. I kept hearing my mother’s voice. Egg whites are finicky. The bowl must be spotless and a speck of yolk. They wouldn’t stiffen. I started over.

When I started on the frosting, I didn’t have raspberries. I substituted blueberries and blackberries, but didn’t have a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds (and a tea ball was just too darn small). So I left them in, which I think I preferred— it tasted fresh and added a little bite. When I realized I had forgotten to buy non-fat cream cheese, I ran out of the apartment, telling my neighbor on my way down the stairs I didn’t have one ingredient. Well lo and behold, she didn’t have anything in her fridge, but she did have five containers of (full-fat) cream cheese. I used it anyway.

Since I am pretty much incapable of not altering a recipe, I added a tablespoon of powdered sugar to the frosting. If the berries were sweeter, the frosting would have been, but it was too tart.

All in all, they were tasty but nothing like a typical (oh-so-delicious) sugar-laden cupcake. I loved that I could eat them without feeling guilty as they weren’t much more than egg whites, Greek yogurt, whole wheat flour, and honey. I pretended the frosting was non-fat— just this one time.

But for something tasty, sweet, and healthy, this could just be your recipe.